In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I found myself desperately wanting to hear the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I thought that it was the most appropriate thing to play at the memorials as a means motivating us to take the steps necessary to avenge our dead and protect the living. If I, a Jew, could live with a Christian hymn, then I don't see why anyone else should object. If it was good enough for my great grandfather, it't good enough for me.

Lyrics

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."
(Chorus) Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

I remember how moving it was to have the entire cathedral full of people singing it at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral. (Yes, I'm ancient enough to remember the televised funeral; my parents watched every minute and had me watch it too).